The CAN-SPAM act, passed in the United States in 2003, hasn't done much to deter the spammers here. Although India took the crown as the spammiest nation in 2012 the USA is back on top so far in 2013.

Occasionally in the flood of spam that passes through SophosLabs there are messages that make us take a second look.

Today brought just such a message to our spamtraps. In fact it brought several.

The offers themselves were pretty standard stuff for spam. Training to be a nurse or learning the secrets of 17 fat-busting foods aren’t going to turn research heads.

However, the obligatory small print at the bottom of the email showed a little more flair than the average CAN-SPAM mandated message.

This message was optimized to be viewed on awesome computers such as the one you're probably using. However there are so many ways to view emails these days that our message may be displayed differently for you. Perhaps you're laying in bed using a tablet or you're taking a bath while using your laptop (not recommended), and hopefully you're not viewing this message on a smartphone while dodging traffic or your neighbor's dog Spike. If you'd like to let us know which device you use to read your mail please send us that comment here. We'll be happy to make your offer viewing experience that much easier.

I wonder if the "Unsubscribe" link was to verify that the email address that the spam was sent to was actually used by someone. The "we're just a bunch of good guys" humor might just be an attempt to appear innocent.

About the author

Richard manages SophosLabs' operations in the United States. His principal security interests are endpoint security and user education. When he's not worrying about digital perils he enjoys singing, much to the distress of his cat, whose name does not feature in any of his passwords.